Nathaniel Coe, farmer, fruit grower, and founder of Hood River, Oregon, was born in Mendham, New Jersey, on September 6, 1788 and grew up in rural New York State. He taught school and attended the Aurora Academy, intending at first to become a lawyer, but after a religious conversion he decided to enter the Baptist ministry. After a tour of the southern states he returned to New York State, settling in Nunda, Livingston County, and marrying Mary White. He served in various public offices, including Justice of the Peace, state legislator, and State Auditor. In 1851 he went to Oregon after his appointment as Special Postal Agent by President Fillmore. He lived at first in Portland, and was joined in 1853 or 1854 by his wife and two sons, who had come by ship via Panama. The family moved to Hood River in 1855, where Nathaniel remained the rest of his life. Among his children were Lawrence W. Coe (d. 1899, married Louisa Graves in 1859), Henry Clay Coe (1844-1928), Eugene Francis Coe (married Roxa Cock, 1868), and Charles Carrol Coe (1834-1872).
Henry Clay Coe was born August 11, 1844, in Livingston County, New York. He came to Oregon with his mother and brother in 1853 and lived with his family in Hood River. After graduating from the Forest Grove Academy he went to work on river steam boats and eventually became a well-known captain, being employed by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company and Oregon Railroad Navigation Company. He also ran a cattle ranch in Yakima County, Washington and established a residence in Portland. In 1869 he married Kittie Catton, a native of New York City, and the couple had five children: Katherine (Mrs. Lindsley Hoyt), Irma, Nell, Mollie, and Charles. Toward the end of his life Henry Coe lived in Redondo Beach, California, where he died in 1928.
Daniel Schenck DuBois (possibly the husband of Nell Coe) was born October 29, 1878. He was an agent of the Franklin automobile company around 1909-1910, and lived in Freehold, New Jersey.
The collection includes farm journals, accounts and weather reports, 1852-1907; Hood River Manufacturing Company account book of Henry C. Coe, 1907-1920; family genealogies; financial records, land deeds, and memorabilia of Henry C. Coe, 1821-1910; account of the battle of the Cascades, March 26, 1856, by Lawrence White Coe (typewritten copy); plat of Coe's Addition, Hood River, 1853; notebooks and diaries, including Mary Coe's detailed hand written journal of her voyage from Panama to Oregon, circa 1853-1854; appointment books of Daniel Schenck DuBois, 1909-1911; and letters from relative Herbert Earle ("Billy") Barrett in Hermosa Beach, California, 1924-1928.
The collection is arranged in the following series:
Series A: Correspondence, 1841-1868
Series B: General papers, legal and financial records, 1937-1923
Series C: Journals, diaries and notebooks, 1821-1910
Farm journals, volumes 1-4, 1852-1874, also available on microfilm, Mss 431 Microfilm, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection is open to the public.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any publication use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Nathaniel Coe Family Papers, Mss 431, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Library Accessions 11524, 11571, 12328. Visa and passport of Nathaniel Coe: gift of Mrs. W. Shackleford, The Dalles, Oregon.
A group of newspapers found in the collection were discarded due to extreme deterioration. A list of these papers is included in the collection in folder 2/1, and copies can be found on microfilm in the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings:
Includes account of "Battle of the Cascades," 1856 March 26
(typescript copy of letter); also includes the following items:
Includes the following items:
There is some question as to whether Mary Coe and her sons came to Oregon in 1853 or 1854.
Includes the following items:
The early portions seem to be in Nathaniel Coe's hand writing.
Materials pasted over pages of an old ledger, circa 1840; items added probably by Henry Coe after Mary Coe's death, circa 1850-1895; photograph on second page probably Nathaniel and Mary Coe.
"Thermometer book / opened January 1st 1871 / Hood River, Wasco County / Oregon" through 1882; 190 pages plus ten loose pages; includes temperature readings, plantings, and other memoranda, farm accounts, recipes, clippings, and other materials.